Topsoil from Virginia Indian village site re-examined

BASTIAN, Va. (AP) – The seeds of Wolf Creek Indian Village and Museum were sewn in May 1970, when highway construction crews encountered a Native American village site as they worked to relocate the creek to make room for Interstate 77.

The village was last occupied at about the same time as the English gentry cornered King John of England at Runnymede and forced him into making concessions in the Magna Carta. As a result, the native peoples who lived in the region that would become Bland County, Va., more than 240 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, were long gone when European colonists arrived. Still, Bland County continues to celebrate its Native American heritage.

Some of Virginia’s top archaeologists recently visited Bland County to re-examine the topsoil that was removed from the original village site in 1970 as part of Dr. Howard MacCord’s original examination of the Brown Johnston Site.

“They were literally working ahead of the bulldozers,” Denise Smith, museum programs coordinator said. “I have heard that when the deadline arrived, Dr. MacCord had volunteers park their cars around the village site so they could work through the night. The volunteers and Dr. MacCord were able to preserve the site. We have an entire village site. Since settlers built homes and farms where village sites were located, it’s rare to have an entire village site. We learn more and it’s getting better every year.”

On two November weekends, Nov. 6-7, and Nov. 20-21, a trio of well-known archaeologists including Dan Kegley, president-elect of the Virginia Archaeology Society of Virginia, Tom Klatke of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and Charlie Bartlett, who participated on MacCord’s 1970 team led volunteers in the initial examination of the topsoil MacCord removed to get to the circa 1215 settlement.

“The first weekend was cold and blowing snow,” Samuel Wright, general manager of Wolf Creek Indian Village & Museum, said. “We had Boy Scout troops from Bland, Martinsville, Va., and Princeton helping. The weather conditions didn’t seem to bother them. They found a few pottery shards.”

Wright said that the museum is considering adding an archaeological component to its experience when it opens for the 2011 season on April 1. “We will be meeting with Bland County Administrator Eric Workman to discuss the idea,” Wright said. “Of course, anything a visitor might find would remain at the site, but we would name the piece in honor of the person who made the discovery.”

According to Smith, the pile of topsoil that MacCord skimmed from the site to get down to the village site was untouched from 1970 until the archeologists and volunteers. “I told the volunteers that every time they sift through the pile, they’re uncovering history,” she said. “We’re doing historic planning now based on the site. We’re getting better at telling the story.”

Wright said that the village will remain open through Nov. 30. The museum will remain open until Dec. 13, conducting its annual Christmas sale, but will then close until re-opening on April 1, 2011. He said that in the off season, museum/village staff and volunteers will remove the remaining fiberglass huts and erect lodges that more accurately reflect what the village really looked like based on the post markings MacCord discovered during his excavation.

The museum opened originally in 1998, and is now operated by Bland County.

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Information from: Bluefield Daily Telegraph, http://www.bdtonline.com

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-ES-12-08-10 2042EST

 

New Orleans Museum of Art becomes a centenarian

The New Orleans Museum of Art, shown on March 3, 2006, its reopening day following Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Infrogmation, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.
The New Orleans Museum of Art, shown on March 3, 2006, its reopening day following Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Infrogmation, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.
The New Orleans Museum of Art, shown on March 3, 2006, its reopening day following Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Infrogmation, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ The New Orleans Museum of Art opened its doors 100 years ago thanks to a $150,000 donation offered by a local businessman to build a “temple of art for rich and poor alike.” It owned 11 pictures and a small collection of other objects.

Now, thanks to the donations of others over the years, NOMA has more than 35,000 pieces in its permanent collection, ranging from paintings by Degas, Picasso, Chagall and other big-name artists to dramatic African and Asian art, antique glass and a sculpture garden featuring works by 20th century greats such as Henry Moore and Louise Bourgeois.

“They have a really amazing collection for which they don’t get enough recognition,” said Arnold Lehman, director of the Brooklyn Museum. “Other than Texas, which has those amazing museums, it has the most important collections in the whole six or seven states in the southern area.”

The present collections, valued at over $500 million, fill a museum that is more than 13 times as large as the original.

“It’s great to have a world-class museum in our region,” said George D. Bassi, president of the Southeastern Museums Conference. “And when you look at art museums in the southeast region, NOMA is one that comes to mind, not only in collection but in its exhibitions and educational programs.”

To celebrate its centennial, the museum is staging a show of those collections and the people who made them possible: “Great Collectors/Great Donors: The Making of the New Orleans Museum of Art, 1910-2010,” which runs through Jan. 23.

The show highlights various decades in the museum’s growth and the wealthy patrons who built collections including Japanese painting, Indian tribal art, traditional African carving and the five-acre Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden.

“Certainly the gifts that make up the sculpture garden have been some of the greatest in our history,” said former director John Bullard, who retired in September after 37 years with the museum.

NOMA’s funding sources include some money from the city, endowment earnings, income from the shops, ticket sales, and memberships as well as donations and fundraisers, but none of it would be enough to build the museum’s collections without major benefactors.

“They have some of the greatest collections, certainly in the South, but also some that rank right up there nationally,” said Bonnie Pittman, director of the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas.

Bullard said selections for the show were difficult to make. He whittled it down to collections from nearly 30 patrons including primitive paintings, delicate Japanese art, Indian brass, silver dinnerware, photography and antique glass. The works were chosen to show the collectors’ vision, passion for obtaining each item, and interest in making it available to the public.

“A collector collects because that’s what he does,” said Dr. Siddharth Bhansili, a cardiologist who has helped NOMA build its collection of art from India. “You want to possess something, but when it’s in my possession I invariably ask where I would want to see this, in my home, in my warehouse or in the museum.”

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If You Go…

NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART: One Collins C. Diboll Circle, City Park, New Orleans; http://www.noma.org/ or 504-658-4100. Open Wednesdays noon-8 p.m.; Thursday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Adults, $10; children 3-17, $5; Louisiana residents, $8. “Great Collectors/Great Donors: The Making of the New Orleans Museum of Art, 1910-2010,” runs through Jan. 23.

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-CS-12-08-10 1901EST